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The One After Vegas
"The One After Vegas" is the sixth season premiere of Friends, which aired on NBC on September 23, 1999. The plot continues from the previous episode; after their drunken wedding in Las Vegas, Ross and Rachel plan a quick annulment, and Monica and Chandler discuss moving in together. A subplot has Joey and Phoebe driving back to New York from Vegas, picking up a hitchhiker on the way. The episode was directed by Kevin S. Bright and written by Adam Chase. Its production was documented for a Discovery Channel program. Plot and Rachel wake up having no recollection of getting married the night before.]] Ross and Rachel wake up in bed, unaware that they got married the night before. Joey joins Phoebe for breakfast, telling her his movie has been canceled. Monica and Chandler arrive and, at the buffet, Chandler tells Joey he and Monica were also planning to wed and expresses worry that the relationship is moving too fast. Monica shares the same concern with Phoebe but they are interrupted when Ross and Rachel arrive. When the others tell them they are married, they decide to get an annulment. Joey encourages Phoebe to go with him on the long drive back to New York, to stop him from being lonely. She agrees but she is annoyed when Joey spends the whole first day asleep while she drives, and they switch over. As Phoebe sleeps, Joey picks up a hitchhiker. Initially outraged, Phoebe soon strikes up a friendship with the man, and gives him her number when he leaves. Joey asks for her forgiveness and they play car games. and Monica are bombarded with unwanted signs to wed.]] Monica and Chandler are still shaken by Ross and Rachel's drunken marriage and unsure about whether they should get married so quickly. They grow increasingly alarmed over all the signs the see telling them to get married. They decide to leave it up to fate again, as they had the previous night, and go back to the craps table, agreeing that if Monica rolls another eight, then they'll get married. They're both visibly upset when she does roll an eight, but quickly agree that it wasn't a hard eight (two fours), so that means they shouldn't get married. Even after that, they keep seeing signs telling them to get married, but they finally agree that it's just too soon and they're happy with things the way they are. Later, Chandler suggest that maybe they could live together. Monica is momentarily uncertain, saying that there haven't been any signs telling them to live together, but when Chandler suggests that him asking her is a sign, Monica enthusiastically agrees. Ross tells Rachel that he does not want three failed marriages but she pressures him to get the annulment. He concedes and later tells her he took care of it, but reveals to Phoebe that he lied: They are still married. Cast and Crew Main Cast Courteney Cox Arquette - Monica Geller Jennifer Aniston- Rachel Green Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Bill Stevenson - Rick Nina Mann - The attendant Rick Pasqualone - The croupier Joel Heyman - The Guy Watching The Game James Michael Tyler - Gunther Crew Directed By: Kevin S. Bright Written By: Gregory S. Malins & Scott Silveri Production had gotten married to David Arquette between seasons and Arquette was added to her name in the opening credits. For this episode, it was added to everyone else's (along with the creators) as well.]] The new sets constructed for the previous episode were left standing over the summer hiatus, allowing the production team to resume filming on the Vegas sets with minimal disruption. A discussion was held during rehearsals about the ink Ross and Rachel had applied to each other's faces in the previous episode; dialogue had established that it was permanent and Marta Kauffman was keen to show it was still there in the scene where Ross and Rachel arrive at breakfast, albeit fainter than before. Others preferred that it was gone completely and this was what was shown in the scene as filmed. There was worry that people would not understand the joke that indicated Phoebe had married someone in a Vegas wedding, but a vox pop of the audience showed they did. During editing, three minutes and 40 seconds were trimmed from the episode to bring it down to the appropriate running time of 22 minutes. Additional time was created for this and future episodes by shortening the theme ason from 45 seconds to 35. Production required 52 takes, 14 scenes and seven rewrites. Between seasons, Cox married David Arquette, becoming Courteney Cox Arquette. An in-joke reference to this is made in the opening credits, where the rest of the cast (and executive producers) have "Arquette" appended to their names. The dedication "To Courteney and David, who did get married" appears during the fade out to the tag scene. Behind-the-scenes footage, along with talking heads by producers, writers and cast, was filmed for an episode of On the Inside, a Discovery Channel series. The programme was released in the United Kingdom in 2001 as part of a special "best of" VHS boxset. In 2004 it was included as an extra on the US season five DVD set, titled The One That Goes Behind The Scenes, as well as on The Best of Friends, Vol. 3 and The Best of Friends, Vol. 4. It was re-released in the UK on the season ten DVD set under this same title. Reception Entertainment Weekly rates the episode B+, praising Schwimmer and Aniston for spinning "new variations on Ross' and Rachel's twisted romantic fates" and citing the line "This is not a marriage -- this is the world's worst hangover!" as the best line of the episode. The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends also mention this line, and praise the moments when Monica and Chandler act like newlyweds, however hard they try not to. They describe Ross's actions as "predictable" but wonder "just how far the writers will go before we all tire of Ross's self-centred, clinical logic trampling over the feelings of the very people he claims to love the most." The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing in a Comedy Series or Special at the 52nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards but lost to an episode of Ally McBeal. Trivia General *In this episode Joey sang "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. In "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" Chandler sang this song. *Chandler's line, "They aren't as much dating as they are two vodka bottles walking around in human form," was actually Matthew Perry's own improvised line when the writers were stuck with an unfunny punchline. This can be seen in The One That Goes Behind The Scenes. *Rachel's line, "This isn't a marriage, this is just the worlds worst hangover!" was actually improved during shooting, as the original line, "Stop saying the word 'marriage'!", wasn't considered funny enough. *Courtney Cox is credited before Jennifer Aniston in the opening theme. This was due to the name changing joke. *This episode received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special (Dana Mark McClure, Charlie McDaniel III, John Bickelhaupt, Kathy Oldham). Goofs/Continiuty *When Chandler sits down, his plate only has eggs on it. A little later in the scene, he suddenly has bacon on his plate. *After Ross and Rachel get married, Rachel exits to the left. A few seconds later Joey and Phoebe enter the same way without having seen Rachel. *During breakfast after Ross says that he doesn't love to get divorced, Rachel's hand suddenly is on her face. *During breakfast after Phoebe says she's drunk right now, Chandler's hand goes from his face to by his side when the camera angle changes. *When Phoebe and Joey are talking about driving back at breakfast, Phoebe's fork keeps disappearing and reappearing when the camera angle changes. *Monica's hair is noticeably longer at the beginning of this episode in the wedding chapel, when compared to her hair at the end of the last episode in the wedding chapel. *When Ross and Rachel come down to breakfast, all the writing is gone from their faces. However, in the episode before this, they were told on the phone that the pen would not come off. The producers had a lengthy conversation about this detail. *When Joey and Phoebe are running into the chapel, Joey is yelling for Phoebe to hurry and she says okay. If you look closely at their mouths, you can tell that neither of their lips are moving. *Monica says the door has not been locked in five years. This was in the season 1 Thanksgiving episode The One Where Underdog Gets Away, where they accidentally all leave the apartment without someone taking the keys, resulting in a ruined turkey. Episode Navigation Category:Friends Category:Season 6 Category:Friends Episodes